Senator Jackie Speier’s legacy as a policy-maker and public servant in California for over 25 years is one of leadership, passion and courage. Her remarkable commitment to public service was forged in tragedy 25 years ago on a remote airstrip in Guyana and continues through today in her dual role as a State Senator and recently named Assistant President Pro-Tem of the California Senate.

Jackie’s story and her ferocious commitment to public service truly began that day in Guyana in 1978. As a young congressional staff person she nearly lost her life in an attempt to uncover facts regarding the Reverend Jim Jones and his People’s Temple followers. Over 900 people died that fateful day including Congressman Leo Ryan. Jackie was shot five times and left to die. As she has said many times, those 22 hours of waiting for help to arrive, alone on the tarmac molded her philosophy, her zest for work and life, and allowed her to see that no one is guaranteed a tomorrow. It is this extraordinary event that has shaped her legislative agenda and overcome special interest forces in order to steer a course of progress on behalf of all Californians.

Jackie knows it takes more than courage to be a great leader. It takes the knowledge and tenacity to create sound public policy. Over the past 25 years, Jackie has set an unprecedented record of over 300 pieces of legislation signed into law by both Democratic and Republican Governors. She has authored ground-breaking legislation in privacy and consumer protection, child welfare and healthcare, many of which have been used as templates for further national legislation.

Californian’s could not have a more courageous and tenacious champion.

* Jackie wrote the law that made California the first state in the nation to use its massive purchasing power to help Medicare eligible seniors and the disabled save an average of 20 percent on their prescription medication purchases with her groundbreaking Prescription Drug Discount bill.
* Jackie created the first Consumer Financial Privacy law in the nation protecting all of us with mandated privacy protections.
* Jackie wrote and passed accountability laws that increased the collection of delinquent child support payments by nearly $1 billion and slashed the number of uninsured motorists by nearly 40 percent.
* Jackie led the fight to cut wasteful spending and corruption in California’s $7 billion prison system.
* Jackie’s tenacious hearings into illegal Steroid use by high school students have become a national template into this terrifying practice.
* Jackie has implemented consumer laws to protect us from misleading internet transactions, travel fraud, telemarketing scams, unfair funeral and cremation practices, illegal stock transactions, faulty credit reports, and lemon vehicles.

A San Francisco native, Jackie earned a B.A. from the University of California at Davis and graduated from the University Of California Hastings College Of Law in 1976. Jackie has two children, Jackson (16) and Stephanie Sierra (10). She is married to Barry Dennis.

Jackie continues to dare to make a difference by using her courage, leadership and passion to fuel her relentless determination to create a better world for all Californians.

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